Hands-free: Brown veto invites more fatal crashes

California's hands-free driving law has saved countless lives and likely will save countless more. When it went into effect three years ago we supported it wholeheartedly.

Now, Gov. Jerry Brown has decided that even though millions of people may indeed be flouting the law and endangering all who share the road with them, such scofflaws shouldn't leave them being held, well, that responsible.

By vetoing a measure to raise the hands-free violation penalties, Brown has turned the law's slap on the wrist into a slap in the face of safety conscious Californians everywhere.

California's anti-cellphone-texting driving laws have served as a model for other states. The simple reason is that they have proven to not only protect motorists from themselves, but also from others.

The California Highway Patrol estimates that since the laws were passed, the state's annual fatality and collision rate has fallen 20 percent. That amounts to about 700 fatalities a year.

While effective, the law still lacks enough teeth to protect even more people.

A major flaw in all of the hands-free laws were that violators were subject to only $20 for the first infraction, $50 for subsequent ones.

While the laws have apparently reduced the collision-fatality rate, countless drivers are apparently still willing to risk a small fine to use their beloved phones while behind the wheel. The Automobile Club of Southern California and the state Office of Traffic Safety estimate that as much as one-third of California motorists are ignoring the law while driving. You've probably seen many of them yourselves.

State Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, who authored the law, hoped to provide a greater deterrent by proposing a more than doubling of the the $20 fine for a first offense to $50, as well as $100 and a point against the driver's license for repeat offenders. It was a small increase, less than the cost of a cellphone for that matter, but the rewards in saved lives would be priceless.

Senate Bill 28 passed the Legislature, but this week Brown inexplicably vetoed it, contending that while he agrees that using a phone while driving's not a very safe thing to do, current fines are high enough. Opponents say the fine was only part of the cost, citing administrative costs that could raise the cost to more than $300.

Sorry, Governor, your veto argument doesn't fly. No one who violates the hands-free law does so by accident, no more than those who drop into the carpool lanes with no passengers do so unknowingly. Driving while on a cellphone or texting are deliberate and dangerous acts, and those who choose to show such irresponsibility should pay the price -- hopefully not the ultimate one.

We've supported Brown on a lot of things, but he fell flat on his face on this one. Fines for littering in California are 50 times higher -- $1,000 per violation -- than the current hands-free law's penalty for a first offense. Even the proposed hike would have been one-twentieth the penalty for tossing a burger wrapper out the car window.

Simitian says Brown missed an opportunity to save lives here, but hopes he can work out a compromise with Brown. He must; lives are in the balance.